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Community Corner

Library's Summer Reading Club In Full Swing

The summer reading club at the public library is at its half-way mark.

It’s officially summer, and the Pasco County Public Library Summer Reading Club is in full swing. This year’s program has an international theme. Readers from birth through grade 12 are eligible to read and earn rewards. 

Readers and programs are broken into three age groups: Read to Me: One World, Many Stories (birth to age 5); One World, Many Stories (kindergarten through fifth grade); and You are Here (sixth grade through 12 grade).

Jade Ethier and her mother, Jeannette, are participating in the Read to Me: One World Many Stories program. Jade is only 3, and her mother regularly reads to her. 

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“I like books about dragons and fairytale books,” Jade says. Her favorite book is "Harry the Dirty Dog."

C.J. Smith, a recent Land O’ Lakes High School graduate, likes manga books like "One Piece." He is very familiar with the summer reading program, “I’ve been doing the summer reading club since I was about 9.”

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Children can register and begin logging books now through July 23. Children above age 3 can receive a prize each week for blogging about what books they read. The blogging site is on the Pasco Libraries website and entries only need to be a few sentences in length. 

Alicia Diaz, children and teen librarian says, “If you’re already reading, you might as well get a prize for it!”

All summer long, the library offers programs to go along with the international theme. The elementary programs are on Wednesdays; the tween and teen programs are on Fridays.

At the end of summer, there will be special parties for those who read six or more books. For the elementary school students, there will be a party with certificates and rewards. For the teens, the first 45 teenagers who sign up and blog will be treated to a lock-in.

Tiffany McVay, an upcoming freshman at Sunlake High says she likes the lock-in best. 

“The library is my get away place," she says. " I like to hang out here.” She also favors the library’s manga books.

If your teen needs more incentive to read and blog, for every six books the teen reads, his or her name will be entered into a drawing to win an Xbox Kinect.   

Library employees are taking an active part in challenges to the teens. If Land O’ Lakes teens read 500 books, one teen library worker will shave his head into a mohawk. If 1,000 books are read, another teen worker will dye her hair any color the teens vote on. And, if 1,500 books are read, librarians Paul Stonebridge and Alicia Diaz will be duct taped to a wall and have pies thrown at them.

The summer days pass quickly. 

“We’re half-way through the program.” Diaz says.

Registration, along with a calendar of events is online at pascolibraries.org.

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